October 26, 2009

Governor Riley Comments on Judge’s Order Shutting Down Illegal Casinos in Walker County

MONTGOMERY - Governor Bob Riley today commented on Circuit Judge Robert Vance’s order shutting down all casinos operating so-called “electronic bingo” machines in Walker County. The order emphatically states that games being played on the machines in question are not bingo.

“One by one, court rulings reconfirm what the law is and say there is no ambiguity,” said Governor Riley. “The judge wrote, ‘To simply drop money in an electronic machine, push a button to start the game, and passively stare at the machine for six seconds to see if you’ve won anything is not ‘the game commonly known as bingo’.’ The only people who could possibly disagree with that statement are those supporting the gambling interests.”

Governor Riley said the order was another victory in the coordinated effort between local law enforcement and the Governor’s Task Force on Illegal Gambling to stop the spread of slot machine gambling in Alabama.

“I want to thank District Attorney Charles Baker and Sheriff John Mark Tirey for their courageous efforts to enforce the law and clean up illegal gambling operations in Walker County. I also want to thank State Senator Charles Bishop who has fought the spread of gambling in Walker County all along.

“All across the state, our Task Force is assisting local law enforcement in cracking down on organized gambling, and we’ll continue to do so until we finally rid our state of these seedy operations.”